We were n00bs once… and young

Pike wrote a great post about the collapse of her former guild. This got me thinking of my current guild and why I’m still in it.

My guild collapsed six months ago. We were just a casual guild and planned to stay that way. We never spammed trade: “recruiting all class/lvls. friendly ppl. we want raid kara soon. pst.” We weren’t l33t, we weren’t imba (we didn’t even know what “imba” meant). We were just a bunch of mid level n00bs who banded together to quest, level, and run the occasional instance.

We had serious players who were using the guild to get XP and levels. We had players who just wanted to have fun. We had players who just wanted to chat. We had players who didn’t have a clue as to what they wanted.

But we also had a lot of fun. We joked with each other all the time. A few knew each other in RL but for the most part we were strangers connected only by a guild tag.

We were a screwed up bunch. I was the priest who hated healing. I melted faces. We had the Paladin who refused to protect and defend the party. He would bubble, aggro an entire Stratholme courtyard and see how long we would last before wiping. (A fun battle at lvl 80, it was absolute insanity with a bunch of lvl 63-66’s wearing greens.) Our Rogue must’ve had a fourth talent tree, Cuteness, because she sure as hell wasn’t specced to sneak up or kill anything.

It was truly an escape from RL. A place to hang out with no strings attached, no expectations. You could talk about anything with no worries about it affecting your real life. Just as Larisa wrote about the Azeroth stories that are hard to tell in real life, there are Real Life stories that are easier to tell in Azeroth.

But despite all the misconceptions of Azeroth ruining people’s real life, RL is quite capable of reaching through the Dark Portal and striking back.

It was inevitable, we fell apart. No final glorious battle. No ruined fortresses for the next generation of adventurers to explore. No relics left behind of a once great power. Just some quiet /gquits, account cancellations, and the occasional “I’ll be gone for two months while moving, but I promise I’ll be back.” The roster shrank. The guild chat grew quieter. And I became the Guild Leader of a dead guild.

I could have /gquit as well and found another guild, but I liked the guild. Even empty, it was a memory of some good times. There are three of us left active in the guild, and two new joins who aren’t on very often.

One of the three is a kid who, despite being online 4 days a week, is still level 36. He hangs out in low level areas killing trash, slowly earning money to waste on overpriced items in the AH. He won’t quest but instead just asks for runs though SM and RFD. I’ve chatted with him and tried to teach him the ways of Gevlon but unfortunately, he is the epitomy of M&S. If he could just get one more blue, then he’ll be ok and can level on his own.

The other is a hunter who is actually a good guy. He finally hit 68 and is now in Northrend. If he ever needs a healer in an instance, I’ll be there for him. I’m looking forward to running Heroics with him soon.

There are advantages to having a guild tag over your head. As a healer, it stops the pushy guild invites. I can solo when I want, or run PUG instances when I want. It’s a no pressure life where I have no commitments and can do whatever I want.

Except that now, I want Purples.

Yes. I want Epic, Phat, L33t, Imba, Uber Lootz. I want power. But everyone knows, the only way to seriously accuire Purples is to be in a decent guild.

So, what do I do now?

1. Promote an alt to Guild Leader and /gquit? No one wants to join a guild ran by a lvl 26 who is never on. This would ensure the death of the guild.

2. Make the Hunter the guild leader? This is the only option that gives the guild a chance at survival. But there is a selfish side to me (I am a Shadow Priest after all, I only heal beacuse it serves a my greater, darker purpose). I bought the tabs in the GB. Do I sell him the leadership position? Or just accept the loss and hand it over?

3. If I’m going to sell it, do I put it on the open market? Let some rich endgamer buy it for their bank alt? This would be the Gevlon answer. He would say I owe the other guildies nothing. As it was my investment into buying the GB then it is mine to profit from.

4. Or do I completly run away: /gquit and then server transfer to avoid the uncomfortable whispers?

To the 6 people who read this blog, (and to the 2 of you who actually made it this far through this long, rambling diatribe) I ask your opinion:

Should I stay or should I go now?

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This entry was posted on May 21, 2009 at 12:02 pm and is filed under Guild . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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5 Responses to “We were n00bs once… and young”

Well if you are are happy as guildmaster you could just pug for a while and create a fitting and selective online application for new members. If people are willing to do an online application I think that says at least that they are reasonably serious. Yeah you may need to nurse things along for a while but it could turn into something awesome again.

On the other hand, if you decide to move on you could find a new suitable guild to take you all?

Whatever you decide I’m sure your guildies will be supportive. If you aren’t enjoying the game, you have to do something to change it up for yourself.

Thank you. And thanks for reading. I really should talk with the other guildies (all four of them) and let them know how I feel. They might feel the same way. I’m sure they are all missing out on some of the WoW experience by not being in a thriving guild that serves their needs.

After all, I am the guild leader. It’s time for me to step up to the role. Even if it may mean ending our guild.

I’m acutally in a similar position. I joined a guild about 3 months ago and played a few days a week. There was definitely some hidden drama going on. About a week ago we were finishing a drak run and suddenly one of the gm’s alts was promoted to gm. My eyebrows went up and then I started seeing the /gquits start. We lost the mage, the GM the Main Tank. The ‘what the hell’ whispers starting flying around. I ended up leaving the guild thinking that it was all over feeling very alone and betrayed. About a week later those os us that felt that betryal actually put the guild back together and I ended up with being the co-gm. Not to shabby! I’m not a raid leader but I can keep personalities flowing together peacefully. Its smaller but I think in the long run will be happier. All the ‘what about me’s’ will be long gone getting done what they think they need to get done. The rest of us will plod right along just fine in our new home!

Its a hard decision. One I’ve had to make a GM and as an Officer. Recently my Guild dissovled for numerous reasons, we were offered the Guild, but felt the best bet for those that wanted to continue to raid was a fresh start. IMHO it was the best decsion. A fresh start means something new for everyone, nothing is there saying this used to be so and so’s or that so and so would of done it this way.

Your at that cross road and by the sounds of it you probably haven’t put yourself first in a very long time. Its time to do so. Do what is best for you. Realize no matter what you decide there probably will be drama. In the end though its time to stop thinking about what’s best for others and do what’s best for you!

If you decide to rebuild, and I’m sure you know this already, it is going to take a whole heck of a lot of work. Find a supoort time and dig in. It’s fun to see it come around, but it does take time and a lot more effort then some want to put in.

If you move on, let those left know why. Be honset and don’t hold back.

Wow. I go away for a few days and that’s when people actually start reading this stuff. Thank you. I appreciate all of the advice. I will have a nice guild chat with the other members. As the only level 80 in the guild I know I am missing out on a lot of the endgame. It is time for me to start enjoying the game again.